Another crazy year in the rock and roll scene… my favourite moments of 2010

2010 was an amazing year. While we’re in the middle of the ‘winter slowdown’, I thought I’d take a look back at some of my favourite moments of 2010, which was the most insane year yet I’ve had in the rock and roll scene. Below are my favourite moments… or at least the ones I can write about! – Brian, Editor

Photographing Jack White in concert. I was a huge fan of The White Stripes in their early days, and Jack White is one of the true great musicians of this time. This was special. Boom.

Interviewing Henry Rollins. Yup, I chatted to Hank. Easily one of the most fun and memorable interviews I’ve had.

Photographing Slash in concert…. I never thought I’d get a chance to see Slash in concert, let alone stand below him while taking photographs as he proceeded to shred and bend the strings on his Les Paul within inches from my face. Awesome.

Playing in the NXNE ‘Put The Boot In’ charity football match at BMO Field – and conceding a penalty kick to Brendan Canning, ha! I was part of the media team, ‘The World’, who took on ‘The Rockers’, a team made up of musicians from various Canadian bands. The game took place at Toronto FC’s BMO Field on the last day of the NXNE music festival. I played in defence alongside Olympic champion kayaker Alex van Koeverden – surreal! I was having a decent enough game until I conceded a penalty kick to Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning when he took a shot which hit my upper arm – the ref called a pen, but it was ball-to-arm not a deliberate handball. That goal levelled the game to 2-2 so the game was decided by a penalty shoot-out… luckily for me, we won. And hey, how many other people can say they conceded a penalty kick to Brendan Canning?! I’m looking forward to the rematch in 2011 as The World will take on The Rockers for another grudge match. Match highlights are included below courtesy of a video from Aux – there is a bit of footage at around 3:30. I’m the lanky guy in white wearing number 17.

Shooting Iggy Pop. My second time seeing Iggy and The Stooges, but this time I had my camera. Unfortunately, I wasn’t granted photo pit access for his concert at Dundas Square in Toronto – but I was going to let a minor detail like that stop me from photographing one of my all-time favourite artists. Legendary.